Slovak slovenčina, slovenský jazyk |
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Spoken in: | Slovakia, United States, Canada, Czech Republic, Serbia, Hungary etc. | |
Region: | Central Europe | |
Total speakers: | over 6 million | |
Ranking: | 104 | |
Language family: | Indo-European Slavic West Slavic Czech-Slovak Slovak |
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Official status | ||
Official language in: | ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Regulated by: | Slovak Academy of Sciences (The Ľudovít Štúr Linguistic Institute) | |
Language codes | ||
ISO 639-1: | sk | |
ISO 639-2: | slo (B) | slk (T) |
ISO 639-3: | slk | |
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. |
The Slovak language (slovenčina, slovenský jazyk, not to be confused with slovenščina), is sometimes called “Slovakian”, which is incorrect. It is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages (together with Czech, Polish, Silesian, Kashubian, and Sorbian).
The Czech and Slovak languages are mutually intelligible.
Slovak is spoken in Slovakia (by 5 million people), the United States (500,000), the Czech Republic (320,000), northern Serbia (60,000), Ireland (30,000), Romania (22,000), Hungary (20,000), Poland (20,000), Canada (20,000), Croatia (5,000), Australia, Austria, Ukraine, and Bulgaria.
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Slovak uses a modification of the Latin alphabet. The modifications include the four diacriticals (ˇ, ´, ¨, ^; see Pronunciation) placed above certain letters.
The lexicographic ordering of the Slovak alphabet is very similar to that of English: A B C D DZ E F G H CH I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z. The complete alphabet, however, allows for characters with diacritics (the character with diacritics always comes after the same character without diacritics) and is as follows: a á ä b c č d ď dz dž e é f g h ch i í j k l ľ ĺ m n ň o ó ô p q r ŕ s š t ť u ú v w x y ý z ž. Note that dz, dž and ch are considered single letters and that ch follows the h (not the c). The letters "q", "w", "x" are only used in loanwords, never in native Slovak words.
The names of the letters (like in English ey, bee, cee, dee …) are: a (á), á (dlhé á), ä (prehlasované á; á s dvoma bodkami, široké e), bé, cé, čé, dé, ďé, dzé, džé, e (é), é (dlhé é), ef, gé, há, chá, i (í), í (dlhé í), jé, ká, el, eľ, dlhé el, em, en, eň, o (ó), ó (dlhé ó), ô (ó s vokáňom), pé, kvé, er, dlhé er, es, eš, té, ťé, u (ú), ú (dlhé ú), vé, dvojité vé, iks, ypsilon (ý), dlhé ý, zet, žet (for pronunciation see below)
The characters are divided as follows:
All vowels, but none of the specific consonants (that is no č, ď, ľ, ĺ, ň, ŕ, š, ť, ž) are available within the Latin-1 encoding.
The primary principle of Slovak spelling is the phonemic principle, "Write as you hear". The secondary principle is the morphological principle: forms derived from the same stem are written in the same way even if they are pronounced differently. An example of this principle is the assimilation rule (see below). The tertiary principle is the etymological principle, which can be seen in the use of i after certain consonants and of y after other consonants, although both i and y are pronounced the same way. Finally there is the rarely applied grammatical principle, under which, for example, there is a difference in writing (but not in the pronunciation) between the basic singular and plural form of masculine adjectives, for example pekný (nice – sg.) vs pekní (nice – pl.), both pronounced [pekniː].
Most foreign words receive Slovak spelling immediately or after some time. For example, "weekend" is víkend, "software" is softvér (not exclusively), and "quality" is spelled kvalita (possibly from Italian qualità). Personal and geographical names from other languages using Latin alphabets keep their original spelling, unless there is a fully Slovak form for the name (for example Londýn for "London").
Slovak orthography has changed many times. One of the most important changes was after World War II when s began to be written as z where pronounced as [z] in prefixes, for example smluva into zmluva, sväz into zväz. (That is, the phonemic principle has been given priority over the etymological principle in this case.)
The Slovak alphabet (minus the vowel diacritics) is often used to transcribe Ukrainian or Russian into the Latin alphabet.
The Slovak language has distinctive palatalization. Among the Slavic languages that do not use the Latin alphabet, Slovak is the closest to Rusyn and then to Ukrainian and Russian. Many Slovak words are familiar to Rusyn speakers and to a much lesser extent, Ukrainian speakers.
English word | Slovak | Rusyn | Ukrainian |
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to buy | kupovať | kupovaty | kupuvaty |
Hello! | Vitajte! | Vitajte! | Vitajte! |
morning | ráno | rano | rano(k) |
Thank you | Ďakujem | Ďakuvu | Ďakuju |
How are you doing? | Ako sa máš? | Jak s'a maješ? | Jak spravy? Jak s'a maješ? |
The accent (stress) in the standard language is always placed on the first syllable of a word (or on the preceding preposition, see below). This is not the case in certain dialects. The eastern dialects, for example, have penultimate stress, which at times makes them difficult for speakers of Standard Slovak to understand. Some of the north-central dialects have a weak stress on the first syllable, which becomes stronger and "moves" to the penultimate in certain cases. Monosyllabic conjunctions, monosyllabic short personal pronouns and auxiliary verb forms of the verb byť (to be) are, as a rule, not stressed.
Prepositions form a single prosodic unit with the following word, unless the word is long (four syllables or more) or the preposition stands at the beginning of a sentence.
The acute mark (in Slovak "dĺžeň", "prolongation mark") indicates a long vowel, for example í = approximately /i:/. This mark may appear on any vowel except "ä" (wide "e", široké "e" in Slovak). It may also appear above the consonants "l" and "r" (which, in such cases, are considered vowels).
The circumflex ("vokáň") exists only above the letter "o." It turns the o into a diphthong (see below).
The umlaut ("prehláska", "dve bodky" = two dots) is only used above the letter "a." It indicates a raised vowel, almost an "e".
The caron (in Slovak "mäkčeň", "palatalization mark" or "softener") indicates either palatalization or a change of alveolar fricatives into post-alveolar, in informal Slovak linguistics often called just "palatalization". Eight consonants can bear a caron. Not all "normal" consonants have a "caroned" counterpart:
In addition, the following rules hold:
Slovak linguists do not usually use IPA for phonetic transcription of their own language or others, but have their own system based on the Slovak alphabet. Many English language textbooks make use of this alternative system of 'phonetic' transcription, a factor which probably contributes to some Slovaks developing a particular ('incorrect') pronunciation of certain English phonemes. In the following table, pronunciation of each grapheme is given in this system as well as in the IPA.
grapheme | IPA | transcr. |
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a | a | a |
á | aː | á |
ä | æ, ɛ | ä, e |
b | b | b |
c | t͡s | c |
č | t͡ʃ | č |
d | d | d |
ď | ɟ, dʲ | ď |
dz | d͡z | ʒ |
dž | d͡ʒ | ǯ |
e | e | e |
é | eː | é |
f | f | f |
g | g | g |
h | ɦ | h |
ch | x | x |
i | ɪ | i |
í | iː | í |
j | j | j |
k | k | k |
l | l, l̩ | l |
ĺ | l̩ː | ĺ̥ |
ľ | ʎ, lʲ | ľ |
m | m | m |
n | n | n |
ň | ɲ, nʲ | ň |
o | ɔ | o |
ó | ɔː | ó |
ô | u̯o | ŭo |
p | p | p |
q | kv | kv |
r | r, r̩ | r |
ŕ | r̩ː | ŕ̥ |
s | s | s |
š | ʃ | š |
t | t | t |
ť | c, tʲ | ť |
u | u | u |
ú | uː | ú |
v | v | v |
w | v | v |
x | ks | ks |
y | ɪ | i |
ý | iː | í |
z | z | z |
ž | ʒ | ž |
Some additional notes (transcriptions in IPA unless otherwise stated):
The main features of Slovak syntax are:
Word order in Slovak is relatively free, since strong inflection enables the identification of thematic role (subject, object, predicate, etc.) regardless of its placement. This relatively free word order allows the use of word order in information structure.
Examples:
The unmarked order is Subject-Verb-Object. Word order is not completely free. In the above example, the following combinations are not possible:
The following are unlikely:
There is no article in the Slovak language. The demonstrative pronoun ten (fem: tá, neuter: to) may be used in front of the noun in situations where definiteness must be indicated.
See: Slovak declension
See: Slovak declension
See: Slovak declension
There are unique forms for 0-10. 11-19 are formed by the numeral plus "násť." Compound numerals (21, 1054) are combinations of these words formed in the same order as their mathematical symbol is written (for example 21 = dvadsaťjeden, literally "twenty one")).
The numerals are: (1) jeden (jedno (neuter), jedna (feminine)), (2) dva (dve (neuter, feminine)), (3) tri, (4) štyri, (5) päť, (6) šesť, (7) sedem, (8) osem, (9) deväť, (10) desať, (11) jedenásť, (12) dvanásť, (13) trinásť, (14) štrnásť, (15) pätnásť, (16) šestnásť, (17) sedemnásť, (18) osemnásť, (19) devätnásť, (20) dvadsať, (21) dvadsaťjeden,... (30) tridsať, (31) tridsaťjeden,... (40) štyridsať,... (50) päťdesiat,... (60) šesťdesiat,... (70) sedemdesiat,... (80) osemdesiat,... (90) deväťdesiat,... (100) sto, (101) stojeden,... (200) dvesto,... (300) tristo,... (900)deväťsto,... (1,000) tisíc,... (1,100) tisícsto,... (2,000) dvetisíc,... (100,000) stotisíc,... (200,000) dvestotisíc,... (1,000,000) milión,... (1,000,000,000) miliarda,...
See also: Slovak declension
volať, to call | Singular | Plural | Past Participle (masculine - feminine) |
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1st Person | volám | voláme | volal - volala |
2nd Person | voláš | voláte | |
3rd Person | volá | volajú |
bývať, to live | Singular | Plural | Past Participle |
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1st Person | bývam | bývame | býval - bývala |
2nd Person | bývaš | bývate | |
3rd Person | býva | bývajú |
vracať, to return | Singular | Plural | Past Participle |
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1st Person | vraciam | vraciame | vracal - vracala |
2nd Person | vraciaš | vraciate | |
3rd Person | vracia | vracajú |
robiť, to do, work | Singular | Plural | Past Participle |
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1st Person | robím | robíme | robil - robila |
2nd Person | robíš | robíte | |
3rd Person | robí | robia |
vrátiť, to return | Singular | Plural | Past Participle |
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1st Person | vrátim | vrátime | vrátil - vrátila |
2nd Person | vrátiš | vrátite | |
3rd Person | vráti | vrátia |
vidieť, to see | Singular | Plural | Past Participle |
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1st Person | vidím | vidíme | videl - videla |
2nd Person | vidíš | vidíte | |
3rd Person | vidí | vidia |
kupovať, to buy | Singular | Plural | Past Participle |
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1st Person | kupujem | kupujeme | kupoval - kupovala |
2nd Person | kupuješ | kupujete | |
3rd Person | kupuje | kupujú |
zabudnúť, to forget | Singular | Plural | Past Participle |
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1st Person | zabudnem | zabudneme | zabudol - zabudla |
2nd Person | zabudneš | zabudnete | |
3rd Person | zabudne | zabudnú |
minúť, to spend, miss | Singular | Plural | Past Participle |
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1st Person | miniem | minieme | minul - minula |
2nd Person | minieš | miniete | |
3rd Person | minie | minú |
niesť, to carry | Singular | Plural | Past Participle |
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1st Person | nesiem | nesieme | niesol - niesla |
2nd Person | nesieš | nesiete | |
3rd Person | nesie | nesú |
stučnieť, to carry (be fat) | Singular | Plural | Past Participle |
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1st Person | stučniem | stučnieme | stučnel - stučnela |
2nd Person | stučnieš | stučniete | |
3rd Person | stučnie | stučnejú |
byť, to be | jesť, to eat | vedieť, to know | |
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1st Sg | som | jem | viem |
2nd Sg | si | ješ | vieš |
3rd Sg | je | je | vie |
1st Pl | sme | jeme | vieme |
2nd Pl | ste | jete | viete |
3rd Pl | sú | jedia | vedia |
Past Participle | bol | jedol | vedel |
Adverbs are formed by replacing the adjectival ending with the ending –o or –e/-y. Sometimes both –o and -e are possible. Examples:
The comparative/superlative of adverbs is formed by replacing the adjectival ending with a comparative/superlative ending -(ej)ší or –(ej)šie. Examples:
Each preposition is associated with one or more grammatical cases. The noun governed by a preposition must appear in the case required by the preposition in the given context. Example:
Priateľov is the genitive case of priatelia. It must appear in this case because the preposition od (=from) always calls for its objects to be in the genitive.
Po has a different meaning depending on the case of its governed noun.
The Slovak language is a descendant of Proto-Slavic language, itself a descendant of Proto-Indo-European. It is closely related to the other West Slavic languages. In particular, Slovak is very closely related to the Czech language. It has been influenced by many languages, including Czech, Polish, German, and Hungarian.
The Slavic language varieties tend to be closely related, and have had a large degree of mutual influence, due to the complicated ethnopolitical history of their historic ranges. This is reflected in the many features Slovak shares with neighboring language varieties. Standard Slovak shares high degrees of mutual intelligibility with many Slavic varieties. Despite this closeness to other Slavic varieties, there is significant variation among Slovak dialects. In particular, eastern varieties differ significantly from the standard language, which is based on central and western varieties.
Most dialects of Czech and Slovak are mutually intelligible; the two are sometimes considered to be poles of a dialect continuum. The two varieties have a long history of interaction and mutual influence well before the creation of Czechoslovakia in 1918. The written form is very close to the Czech one, but there are phonetic and vocabulary differences. Literary Slovak shares significant orthographic features with Czech, as well technical and professional terminology dating from the Czechoslovakian period.
Eastern Slovak dialects are less intelligible with Czech; they differ structurally from Czech and from other Slovak dialects, and contact between speakers of Czech and speakers of eastern dialects is limited. However, Eastern Slovak dialects have some intelligibility with Rusyn, but both lack technical terminology and upper register expressions. Polish and Sorbian also differ from Czech and Slovak in upper registers, but non-technical and lower register speech is readily intelligible. There is also some mutual intelligibility with spoken Polish, however Polish orthography is very different; Rusyn orthography is even further, as it, like Ukrainian, uses the Cyrillic alphabet.
In addition to vocabulary common to the Slavic languages of the region, significant non-Slavic elements have been incorporated into the Slovak lexicon. Slovak went through long periods of close contact with both Hungarian and German. Both languages have left their mark on Slovak vocabulary. Hungarian loanwords in Slovak include: "paprika," Slovak paprika, Hungarian paprika; "whip," Slovak korbáč, Hungarian korbács; and "dragon", Slovak šarkan, Hungarian sárkány.[1] German loanwords include "coins," Slovak mince, German münzen; "to wish", Slovak vinšovať, German wünschen; and "color," Slovak farba, German Farbe.[2]
There are many varieties of Slovak. These may be divided in four basic groups:
The fourth group of dialects is often not considered a separate group, but a subgroup of Central and Western Slovak dialects (see e.g. Štolc, 1968), but it is currently undergoing changes due to contact with surrounding languages (Serbian, Romanian and Hungarian) and long-time geographical separation from Slovakia (see the studies in Zborník Spolku vojvodinských slovakistov, e.g. Dudok, 1993).
For an external map of the three groups in Slovakia see here.
The dialect groups differ mostly in phonology, vocabulary and inflection. Syntactic differences are minor. Central Slovak forms the basis of the present-day standard language. Not all dialects are fully mutually intelligible. It may be difficult for an inhabitant of the Slovak capital Bratislava (in western Slovakia) to understand a dialect from eastern Slovakia.
The dialects are fragmented geographically, separated by numerous mountain ranges. The first three groups already existed in the 10th century. All of them are spoken by the Slovaks outside Slovakia (USA, Canada, Croatian Slavonia, Bulgaria and elsewhere) and Central and Western dialects form the basis of the Lowland dialects (see above).
The western dialects contain features common with the Moravian dialects in the Czech Republic, the southern central dialects contain a few features common with South Slavic languages, and the eastern dialects a few features common with Polish and the East Slavonic languages (cf. Štolc, 1994). Lowland dialects share some words and areal features with the languages surrounding them (Serbian, Hungarian and Romanian).
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